Tänään ja huomenna

Singularity Institute For Artificial Intelligence on käynnistänyt pikakeräyksen otsikolla Today And Tomorrow. Jos olet koskaan harkinnut rahalahjoituksen tekemistä, nyt on aika tehdä se. Mikä tahansa summa on enemmän kuin ei mitään. Kaksi päivää aikaa. Juuri *sinun* lahjoituksesi on tärkeä.

Jos ajattelet, että "taidanpa antaa vasta sitten kun kaikki muutkin antavat", ajattelet väärin. Ajattelet kuin sivustakatsoja.

There's research in social psychology, starting in 1968 with a famous series of experiments by Latane and Darley, on the phenomenon now known as the "bystander effect". When more people are present at an emergency, it can reduce the probability that *anyone* will help. One of Latane and Darley's original experiments had subjects fill out questionnaries in a room when they began to add smoke. In one condition, the subject was alone. In another condition, three subjects were in the room. In the final condition, one subject and two confederate experimenters (apparently other students) were in the room. 75% of alone subjects calmly noticed the smoke and left the room to report it. When three subjects were in a room together, only 38% of the time did anyone leave to report the smoke. When a subject was placed with two confederates who deliberately ignored the smoke, the subject reported the smoke only 10% of the time. Other experiments in Latane and Darley's original series included the experimenter apparently breaking a leg and a student apparently having a seizure. In every case, the subjects who were alone reacted to the emergency faster than the subjects who witnessed the emergency in a group.

-- "Pluralistic ignorance" is the name that social psychologists give to group underreaction: When people in groups see an emergency, they look around to see if anyone else is responding. If no one else is responding, they assume it's not a real emergency. The problem is that *before* people have decided something is an emergency, they instinctively try to appear calm and unconcerned while they dart their eyes about to see if anyone else is responding - and what they see are other people appearing calm and unconcerned.

Älä ole sivustakatsoja. Älä katsele muiden katselijoiden reaktiota tilanteeseen. Älä keksi tekosyitä. Älä peruuta siksi, että olet vain "pieni sinä" tai siksi, että olet "suuri sinä". Katso mikä on tilanne ja ryhdy auttamaan. Kun *sinä* ryhdyt auttamaan, muutkin voivat viimein tajuta, että tässä on tosi kyseessä. Kumpi haluat olla - se yksi joka ryhtyi auttamaan vai ne kymmenen, jotka vain katsoivat vierestä?

Today And Tomorrow

Defy paralysis. Take the first step, and the second step will be easier. The scariest part isn't leaping onstage - it's standing up in the audience.